Sept. 17 I attended the 2nd annual summit of the Better California Campaign. This is the organization that Phoenix-like arose from the ashes of the defunct California Futures Network. BCC is building a coalition to influence California policy on smart growth issues. Among the attendees was Derek Chernow, the new head of Odyssey, who indicated they plan to join BCC. After listening to the presentations I've concluded while BCC has many goals we share as a regional group focused on local issues I don't see us joining at this time. I see the appropriate avenue of our involvement being via our participation in Odyssey.

Kudos to Assemblyman Gerorge Nakano of the South Bay for passage of AB 2785 which makes it an infraction after Jan. 1, 2005 to drive a school bus or transit bus while talking on a cell phone. The Sept. 15 San Jose Mercury News article "Phone limits for bus drivers" notes the bill was inspired, in part, by complaints in Los Angeles about bus operators who drove erratically or missed scheduled stops because they were socializing on cellular phones. Hopefully soon the sight of a bus operator distractedly chatting while whizzing along will be a thing of the past.

Ron Deaton is Chief Legislative Analyst for the Los Angeles City Council and the ultimate insider. In a rare interview that appears in the Sept. issue of the Metro Investment Report Deaton opines that the LAX consensus agreement engineered by councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski will be approved by the City Council before the end of the year. And if nothing else Deaton is someone who knows how to count...

Things are getting a bit testy at Metrolink. Bombardier initially on technical grounds was disqualified from competing for the new railcar contract, despite the company having provided all the passenger cars the agency had purchased heretofore. Bombardier filed a protest and forced the procurement to be restarted. Meanwhile Amtrak has been found non-responsive to the request-for-proposal to operate Metrolink's trains. This despite Amtrak having been the contractor to operate service since Metrolink began operations. Amtrak claims aspects of Metrolink's proposal specifications as written would expose Amntrak to unacceptable liability hazard and evidently Metrolink will not change the objectionable language. It should be noted for similar reasons Amtrak recently withdrew from bidding for the contract with the Boston commuter rail agency which heretofore it also had held. Some see a trend of retrenchment by Amtrak in these moves (along with its recent announcement that it will cease carrying mail and freight).

Another problem for Bombardier is the beleaguered Las Vegas Monorail project, for which it supplied the equipment and operates the system. Since startup in July three times parts (wheels, drive assemblies) have fallen off trains and forced shut downs. Currently a consultant has been brought in for a thorough safety review before service resumes (every day the monorail is idle it foregoes $100,000 in fare revenue).

transition of the month: former Santa Clarita Transit general manager Ron Kilcoyne after a two-year stint at Korve Engineering has recently been hired to be General Manager and CEO of the Greater Bridgeport Transit District in Connecticut.

The August Delaware Valley Rail Passenger newsletter reports New Jersey has just passed a law requiring all vehicles (except emergency vehicles) to yield the right of way to buses reentering traffic after dropping off or picking up passengers. If we don't have a similar law it certainly sounds worthwhile.

For those keeping score, the non-profit Access Services Foundation which is supposed to raise funds for ASI has been given $50,000 by ASI for the Foundation's 2004/05 budget along with six ASI staff members spending approximately 5-20% of their time on Foundation business. Half the funds ($25,000) are to hire fundraisers. I hope this effort pans out instead of turning into a money pit...

The Antelope Valley Transit Authority recently moved into its new facility, which included a headquarters building and adjacent bus yard. As often happens some tweaks have had to be made to improve the facility which hadn't been contemplated when it was designed. Amusingly among these tasks is obtaining a large sign saying "AVTA" to put on the front of the building. Oops...

quote of the month: "In few areas are so many academics and other theoreticians as divorced from reality as in urban transportation." Vukan R. Vuchic (in "Livable Cities", TR News #229 Nov.-Dec. 2003).

I'll conclude by noting David Armijo's assumption of the General Manager post for the MTA's Westside/Central Service Sector after the sudden departure of Jim McElroy. Richard Hunt is succeeding Armijo as head of the San Fernando Valley Sector. Best of luck to Armijo and Hunt in their new positions.